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Mr Campbell said it was the first time since 1925 that there had been no confirmed reports of the monster.

‘It's very upsetting news and we don't know where she's gone,’ he said.

Marmaduke Wetherell, seated, is pictured studying a chart of the Loch Ness in a search for the Loch Ness Monster. He was said to have faked the most famous picture in revenge for bad publicity

HAS THE LOCH NESS MONSTER LEFT SCOTLAND FOR AUSTRALIA?

There are some suggestions that Nessie isn’t dead at all, but on holiday in Australia.

A photograph that emerged in November appears to show the Loch Ness Monster has headed Down Under for a place in the sun.

Taken off Magnetic Island - located off the Queensland coastal city of Townsville - the pictures have convinced locals they have their very own Loch Ness Monster.

With a population of just over 2,800, the island is buzzing after the bizarre monster-like 'creature' suddenly popped up out of the pristine waters off an area known as Picnic Bay.

The image, which is eerily reminiscent of the famous 1934 image of the Loch Ness Monster, had visitors and locals scratching their heads, with theories ranging from it being a large bird to a sunken boat.

Magnetic Island resident David 'Crusty' Herron said he was 'stoked' to capture the images on camera.

'We've started to call the big fella Lost Nessie. When I looked out and saw it, I thought s***, it's like that Loch Ness over there in Scotland.

‘The number of sightings has been reducing since the turn of the century but this is the first time in almost 90 years that Nessie wasn't seen at all.

‘Pretty much everyone now carries a camera with them in their smart phone - this allows then to snap what they're seeing and means that we don't just have to rely on eyewitness evidence.

‘As last year has shown, all the pictures and videos taken can prove to the expert eye that it wasn't Nessie that was being filmed.’

William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said: ‘Although we had three entries, one was a wave, one a duck and the other wasn't from Loch Ness - even the one other sighting for the year that wasn't entered was a video of a wave.

Experts at the loch are appealing for anyone with new evidence from 2013 come forward.

‘It could be good for them,’ said Mr Adams, ‘we've now more than doubled the odds of finding proof that Nessie exists to 250-1 and we've done a “monster rollover” on the prize meaning that this year's winner could be taking away £2000.’

Mr Campbell, a chartered accountant based in Inverness, has been logging Nessie sightings for 17 years after seeing something in the loch himself.

As Nessie's registrar of sightings, he has put together a list of sightings going back 1,500 years.

Irish missionary St Columba is said to have encountered a beast in the River Ness in 565AD.

The original so-called Surgeon's Photograph, taken by Dr Robert Kenneth Wilson and published in the Daily Mail on 21 April 1934, supposedly showed the monster's head and neck, but was also later proved to be a hoax

Mr Campbell said: ‘So far 1,036 reported sightings have been recorded and there were some in 2012.

‘I'm convinced that Nessie has just taken some time out and will be back with a vengeance this year.’

Last year, Loch Ness Monster was placed ahead of the Himalaya's Yeti in a list of ‘top 18 mysteries’ for travellers to solve in 2014.

Wanderlust Magazine put Nessie at number three and the Yeti at 12.

Easter Island's carved monoliths, the moai, were in first place followed by Mongolia's Gobi rock art.

Also listed are the Pyramids of Giza, the USA's Marfa ghost lights, Angkor Wat in Cambodia and finding Australia's Tasmanian tiger.

Actor Charlie Sheen recently spoke about his surprise search for the Loch Ness Monster - revealing that he hunted Nessie with a bottle of whisky. Sheen dragged cohort Brian Peck (right) to Scotland so they could hunt for the Loch Ness Monster

Actor Charlie Sheen recently spoke about his surprise search for the Loch Ness Monster - revealing that he hunted Nessie with a bottle of whisky.

And the 48-year-old admitted he wants to return with American TV host Jay Leno to resume his monster hunt.

The Anger Management star flew to Scotland last summer to look for Nessie.

And now he told Leno last month of what really happened during his search - admitting there was an unexplained ‘crazy’ event on the day he left.

‘Something happened, there was an event at the top of the water that was crazy,’ he said, without specifying exactly what,’ he said.

The Loch Ness Monster has been a subject of mass intrigue and debate since it came to the world's attention in 1933.

There are some suggestions that Nessie isn¿t dead at all, but on holiday in Australia. This picture taken off the coast of Australia looks uncannily like the famous 1934 image of the Loch Ness Monster which has got locals buzzing with speculation

In November that year Hugh Gray was the first to picture something splashing in the water.

There are some suggestions that Nessie isn’t dead at all, but on holiday in Australia.

A photograph that emerged in November appears to show the Loch Ness Monster has headed Down Under for a place in the sun.

Taken off Magnetic Island - located off the Queensland coastal city of Townsville - the pictures have convinced locals they have their very own Loch Ness Monster.

With a population of just over 2,800, the island is buzzing after the bizarre monster-like 'creature' suddenly popped up out of the pristine waters off an area known as Picnic Bay.